Force You Down

Chapter Twelve

Jacklyn

I wake up to the touch of Mike's muscular arm wrapped around me. Having to pee, I slowly slip out of his hold, tiptoeing to the bathroom in his room. Making sure to lock the door, I did my business and stare at myself in the mirror. My face had changed so much.

Just from the few days of starvation my face looks gaunt and the bones in my abdomen stick out more. My eyes look lifeless and despite the enormous amount of sleep I had been getting, there were large purple bags under my eyes.

A knock on the door made me jump a foot in the air. I quickly unlock it, trying to avoid making Mike mad. A sleepy Mike squints at me confusedly.

"What were you doing baby?" The pet names will never go away. He sounds suspicious.

"I was using the bathroom." I reply.

"What else were you doing?" He prods. I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"I was looking at myself in the mirror. I haven't been able to for a while and I noticed how much weight I lost." I say as lightly as I can. His eyebrows furrow and a flash of something like guilt passed through his eyes. He only motions me to come back to bed. The alarm clock on his nightstand reads 5:04 a.m.

I stiffly lay back down, and instantly Mike pulls my body to his. I take a deep breath in to relieve my nerves. I have to be convincing. I snuggle my head into his chest. He smells like expensive cologne. His chest rumbles in approval.

"Why have you been acting so nice and affectionate lately?" He mumbles sleepily and I force myself to remain relaxed. I contemplate what to say.

"I realized that you've been looking out for me all these years and that nobody could care for me the way you do." I say softly, my mind screaming in agony at the massive lie in my words. I feel him nod.

"Nobody will love and care for you better than I can babygirl." He says, and his breathing deepens, and I know he's fallen asleep. My heart pounds.

He loves me?

This can't be true. I would understand if he was infatuated with me or even obsessed. But love? This changes everything.

It'll be that much harder to escape. But I can't give up.

I lay awake for hours after that confession. I pretend to be asleep when Mike's alarm goes off at 8:30 a.m.

He kisses my head and I hear him get dressed. Oh, that's the other thing I forgot to mention. Mike sleeps shirtless. Pretending to like him would be so much harder if he was older and unattractive. Too bad he's in his early twenties and is in top notch shape.

As soon as he leaves the bedroom I sit up, rubbing my eyes tiredly. I lay back down. Maybe I could get some sleep now that I wasn't being suffocated by Mike.

When I wake up again it's 10:45 a.m. There's a plate of eggs and bacon on the nightstand. I pull off the sticky note that's attached to it.

Enjoy, princess.

<3 M

Princess? That's a new one. But it's more vomit-inducing than sweetheart. And that's saying something.

Swallowing my disgust I pick up the plate and began to chomp down on the breakfast. I had to gain my strength back. I would have a better chance of getting out of here.

When I'm finished I turn on the T.V. watching whatever came on Comedy Central. And this is how it was for the next few days.

Mike would cuddle with me, leave me for the rest of the day, I would have meals delivered to me and I would watch T.V. and occasionally workout. Mike would come back to the room around 8:00 p.m. and the routine would start over. There was always small talk, but nothing more than that.

But today was different. Mike came back to the room at 7:00 p.m. And he lays beside me on the bed. I look at him curiously.

"I want to get to know you better." He says simply, his hand reaching out to mine, stroking the back of it.

Well you know lots about me already from when you stalked me for two years you sick fuck.

But instead I say, "What do you want to know?" He shrugs.

"The little stuff. Your favorite color. Your favorite movie."

I think carefully. "My favorite color is white. My favorite movie is Finding Dory." He snorts at my favorite movie.

"Finding Dory? Of all movies?" He says in amusement. I cross my arms and pout. I've got to "act myself", right?

"It's a damn good movie, thank you very much. What about you?" I defend.

He stares at me for a moment before responding. "My favorite color is black." I internally roll my eyes at that. "And I don't have a favorite movie."

I gasp. "How do you not have a favorite movie?" He smiles, and I hate that he's so attractive.

"I just don't have time for movies." Yeah, because you shoot people and stalk underage girls.

I shake my head. "Nonsense. You have to make time for movies."

There's a little smile on his face. "Then we'll start watching one every night."

"Bring it on." I have to get close to him in order to break him. He puts on a Marvel movie. He lays beside me and wraps his arm around me, tucking me into his side.

Once the movie ends we have a discussion about the plot and the characters.

Breaking into his exterior wall would be much easier than I had initially thought.

But on this night as we lie down in bed, we face each other, just looking at one another, his thumb stroking my cheek affectionately. Sliding his free hand under my other cheek, he slowly leans in and presses his soft lips against mine. A simple peck.

Having no other choice, I kiss back. And as Mike softly snores beside me, tears slide down my cheeks and soak into the plush pillow.